Rabbit Warren
by BasilMacVae
Summary: Alice in Wonderland fic: boldly going where every fangirl has gone before...hopefully with more style. AU/AR critiques welcome.


Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor do I own Alice in Wonderland. This is just me boldly going where every fangirl has gone before.

WARNING: overabundance of the word "dude," and there will be future shounen-ai. I will warn you when it comes up, though, so quit being a pansy.

Summer sunlight made Roxas sleepy; as evidenced by the way he was curled up in their family's second-hand armchair, one leg slung over an over-stuffed arm. The homework he was supposed to be working on was scattered over both his lap and the surrounding floor. Some was finished, most was not. Whether or not this was to be rectified remained to be seen, as his priority at the moment was catching up with the sleep that he'd lost during the school year. "Roxas, dude; where are you?" His eyebrow twitched as he squirmed to push himself deeper into the cushions. Maybe if he ignored his brother, he might be allowed to complete his goal. "Come on, man, you've got to see this; Roxas?" He could hear Sora thumping down the hall and knew that there would be murder done as soon as mother found the dirt that undoubtedly followed.

"Dude!" Too close for comfort.

Roxas blinked his eyes open blearily, and immediately shut them again, groaning in protest at the eyes so like his own encroaching on his space. "Go 'way, Sora." He did a little hopping roll to face the back of his seat.

He could hear his brothers little whine of dismay. "Roxas, don't go back to sleep, I want to show you something!" He began pushing at his shoulder in hopes of shifting his butt.

"Sora, I can't go back to sleep if I wasn't asleep in the first place," Roxas grumped as he waved at Sora's general direction to stop the shoving. "Go bother the new neighbors; I'm sure they'll be happy to meet someone new."

"But this is better than new neighbors! I can't show something of this magnitude to someone not of the family!"

Roxas grunted in an attempt to laugh. "You sound like the Godfather. ("Uncle Paulie? What's he got to do with anything?") What do you want to show me?" He asked as he rolled off the chair, "and if it's another anole, I will end you and drink the souls of your ancestors from your skull."

Sora wrinkled his nose at him, "Dude, that's just harsh. Anole's are cool."

Not nearly as cool as the Struggle finals, but Roxas didn't think that Sora needed to be reminded. "Let's just go."

…

"Your right, Sora; this is definitely cooler than anole's."

"I know, right?"

"Mos' def. An enormous hedge is totally awesome. Moron."

Sora ducked and pouted as Roxas swiped at the back of his head, "It's not just a hedge; it's a hedge-row!"

Roxas squinted at his brother. "Just how is a hedge-row different than a hedge? You added a hyphen."

"That's not all, though," Sora said excitedly. "This hedge-row is part of a labyrinth! Pretty cool, huh?"

"A ten-foot labyrinth is not worth losing sleep, brother-(heylookahyphen) mine," Roxas dead-panned.

"It's bigger than that, its frickin' enormous. I lost Pluto in there." This stopped Roxas cold in his tracks to retreat.

He did a slow turn to stare at his should-have-been-blond-why-did-Roxas-get-the-blond-hair brother. "You lost the dog?" Sora shuffled with guilt and nodded. "You lost the dog that wasn't even ours, Sora you flipping—!" Here he pointed to his head in an attempt to convey just how stupid he thought Sora was in this instant. "How long has he been in there?"

"Ummn," He rolled blue eyes skyward in thought ("Use that honor student brain!") "I think it's been about two hours…?"

"Ffff!" Roxas pressed clenched fists to his forehead and did a little anxious hop. "Two hours; mom's going to have an aneurysm unless we bring that dog back. Have you called him?" Sora nodded, meek in the face of Roxas' righteous rage. "And did he respond? (Another nod) From the labyrinth (nod) Okay, we'll keep on looking. You will stay beside me, and do NOT leave my side, do you understand?"

"But, what if I see Pluto?"

"Then you drag me with you; but if I look over and I don't see you, I'm going to take your copy of Mass Effect, and tell mom how you were the one to decimate her new garden. Oh yeah," he hissed, gleeful with his ammunition and Sora's look of horror. "I know that was you, 'cuz Pete was in my room the whole time; and cats don't ride bikes, I don't care what lol-cats says."

Defeated, Sora nodded meekly, and proceeded to glue himself to Roxas' side. "I am your shadow; like Peter Pan, but not as likely to kill other children."

Roxas cringed at this. "Unnecessary vow is unnecessary, but thanks for the thought."

…

They had been wandering the hyphenated hedges for a long while (long enough for the light to grow dim), and despite all the auditory evidence of Pluto's presence, they had yet to actually see the mutt. Personally, Roxas blamed the way that Sora would hare off at the imagined sight of a tail whisking around a corner. At least he was true to his word, and had kept Roxas within touching distance at all times. It was an improvement, as was the sight of something other than dirt and grass and glorified bushes.

It was a small clearing, with dirt, grass, surrounded by glorified bushes; but at least it had a very old, very SPARSE tree. The entire area was carpeted with rotting leaves, and their sickly smell permeated the area.

Roxas huffed and collapsed on a little stone bench near to hand. "We have been in here for WAY too long, dude. We need to get out of here; Pluto's probably already gone home, by now." He looked around and wrinkled his nose. "Any way's, this place reeks like Grandpa's basement."

Sora hummed agreement, but made no move to join him. "I wonder how long that tree's been here,"

Roxas looked at the behemoth and shrugged. "Probably for longer than this maze; who cares?"

"But," Sora looked gestured to the surrounding area, "all of the hedges have been perfect; why is this one spot so gross?"

He was about to protest the significance of this, but he stopped and really thought about it. Sora was right. Everything that they'd seen so far had suggested perfect tending by a professional, so what was up with the tree? "Maybe there's something special about this spot?" He ventured, and watched his brother approach the tree. "Maybe it's haunted, and we're going to get eaten by angry widow zombies." Too much Resident Evil and hanging out with Pence.

Apparently Sora agreed, since he twisted around to laugh at his brother before something else caught his attention. "Hullo, Mr. Watson; what's all this then?"

Roxas refrained from joshing Sora about his sudden attack of British and stood up to join him. "Good Lord, Holmes; just what is this… (line!)… Hole you've found?"

"Big rabbit?" Sora ventured, and it would probably have to be; it was rather large, with tracks leading in and out. Lots of old droppings that Roxas wanted to avoid as well.

"Easter Bunny," Was all he said. Sora snorted and peered into the depths.

"I wonder if Pluto could fit in here,"

"Probably, but I don't see why he would bother;" Roxas geared himself up to show off his boy-scout training (that Sora had totally missed in favor of science camp). "This warren (that's what they're called, you know) is abandoned, and for a long time, too. All the fur that would have been caught has been taken away; probably by birds for their nests." He felt pretty awesome; they didn't teach things like that at science camp.

"But there's fur back there," and there went the floaty-feelings. "Let me just get in there and look; I can fit."

Whoa, hold up, there! "So can I, but that doesn't mean that we should," Roxas panicked a little as Sora positioned himself like a doctor at the ready. "Dude, you don't know what's in there; what if there's a badger!"

Sora turned and leveled his brother with a look that was almost comical in its drama. "I don't know what a badger is, or even if that's what'll be in this warden ("Warren, dude, warren,") but I do know this." He drew himself up, looking like a grave captain in front of his soldiers. "I do know that Pluto could be in there; that sweet innocent puppy could be shivering in fear, abandoned to the elements." He pinned Roxas with a look, "do you want to be the man that tells mom that we didn't try absolutely everything?"

As hilarious as Sora's speech was, Roxas felt it necessary to ask his brother his own question. "Do you want to be the one to tell mom we went spelunking in a rabbit's warren?"

Sora grinned and thumped Roxas' back. "That's why you're here, dude; that's why you're here," And away he went, scrambling on his hands and knees into the black; touching the leavings of historical rodents.

There really was no other choice; it was not as if Roxas could go home and tell his mother that he had lost both Pluto and his twin brother to a tree.

Down the Rabbit Hole he went.

A/N why yes; yes I do have an uncle Paulie, and yes, he is Italian.

…


End file.
